The actor's psychopathic villains and extreme protagonists suit him, some wonder if he has to do with his family history
Throughout his career, Woody Harrelson has been able to play a variety of characters, whether in a comedy, drama, or thriller. He always adds a personal dose that goes between madness, and psychedelia but also freedom.
Something that has led fans to wonder if it will be related to the personal history that surrounded his childhood with a contract killer father.
Woody came to television as the bartender in "Cheers" between 1985 and 1993 and to the cinema at the hands of Goldie Hawn in "Wild Cats" (1986), although his rise was catapulted in the 90s with Demi Moore in "A Proposal". indecent” (1993), the drama of Oliver Stone.
Hollywood opened its doors wide for him when just a few years earlier, in 1979, his father had been sentenced to double life in prison for murdering a federal judge. He did it on behalf of a drug dealer from Step, Texas, named Jamiel Chagra.
By the way, the story of Charles Harrelson, Woody's father, will soon be in the news again as "Son of a hitman" will be released in May, a 10-episode podcast by journalist Jason Cavanagh who investigated the life and crimes of Woody. Woody's father through interviews with some relatives.
The actor grew up with his mother, his secretary, and his brothers in Texas, seeing his father sporadically due to his constant going in and out of prison.
“They broke up young, I wasn't home much,” he said in a 2012 interview with The Guardian. One of the few interviews where he spoke in depth about his father.
After being acquitted of the murder of Alan Berg in 1970, Charles Harrelson was re-sentenced for the contract killing of Sam Degelia, a grain trader and father of four, for which he reportedly charged $2,000.
But soon after he was implicated in another murder together with his new wife, Jo Ann. Federal judge, John H. Wood Jr. was shot to death on the orders of a trafficker.
When he was arrested in September 1980, Charles was high on cocaine, threatening suicide and claiming that he had assassinated the judge but also President John F. Kennedy. In the end, he was sentenced to double life in prison while his wife received 25 years.
